Another Sunrise Ride

Really getting tired of the heat here this summer. Not getting out to ride as much. When I do ride, it has to be at or about sunrise.

Yesterday was another of my sunrise rides to and around Lake Manawa. Caught sunrise just after crossing the road to the power plant.

When riding at sunrise, had to keep checking the mirror to catch the right image.

Old Man of Storr

From time to time I'll be featuring photos by two Austrian friends, Thomas and Elke. On a gloomy grey Monday, when it was getting dark at 3.30 p.m., I needed some sunshine, and so I reached for some images from their epic round-Scotland cycle trip. The luck of the Austrians - they had something like a day of rain.
This is the Old Man of Storr, on the Isle of Skye. Apparently it means 'Great Man' in Old Norse.

Salute to Memorial Day

Although we’re still in the midst of settling into the condo, we managed to find and hang our flag to honor Memorial Day.

Here’s a bit about the genesis of Memorial Day from a website I came across when I was researching the history of this special day, which was first observed on May 30, 1868.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.  There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day.  There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, “Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping” by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication “To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead” (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920).  While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day.  It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860’s tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868.  It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established.  Memorial Day is not about division.  It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

Click here for more information about Memorial Day, including the story of how a poem entitled In Flanders Fields brought about the tradition of wearing red poppies to honor those who gave their lives in the service of their country.

Who Would’ve Thunk …

… that on New Year’s Eve day we’d be able to sit on a park bench in Washington DC and enjoy an al fresco lunch?

Well, we must have been hoping that the forecast for near 60F (15C) temps and sunshine would hold true, because we packed some sandwiches, baby carrots, and apple slices when we left the house shortly before noon today.

The Destination: Washington DC.

The Plan: take the metro to the Rosslyn Station; walk across the Key Bridge from Virginia to DC; stroll along the C&O Canal tow path; have a picnic lunch somewhere along the way; and wander through Georgetown before returning home.

By the time we got into DC, however, the clouds had moved in and there was a stiff breeze. The walk along the tow path was no longer appealing, so we scrapped that part of our plans. Instead, we found a bench at the Francis Scott Key Park near the entrance to Georgetown and enjoyed a picnic lunch while the sun played hide and seek behind the clouds. Then, we strolled through Georgetown, which was unusually quiet and crowd-free, and stopped to get some Belgian chocolate-chocolate ice cream at the Häagen-Dazs shop that happened (!!!) to be on our way to the Foggy Bottom Metro Station. Yummm … brings back great memories of our 1999 trip to Cancun; but that’s a story for another time.

a beautiful winter day with fall-like temps.

So, our plans didn’t work out as intended. So be it. We had fun anyway … and we got out of the house for a couple of hours to boot.

“Phaeton” Goes into Storage … “Phaeton Journeys” Goes on Hiatus …“” Goes on Vacation

If you have been wondering why we’ve fallen off the sightseeing and exploring bandwagon these past months, the time has come to reveal the reason. While we might have been physically inactive, I can’t say the same for our brains — busy cogitating; or our fingers — busy surfing the web. All in preparation for our 3½-month vacation from life on the road.

When I dropped some hints about our vacation plans, some of you guessed Iceland, which is indeed part of our plans. But far from all of it. In fact, we started out with Greenland [the picture above being our inspiration], then added Iceland, Turkey, and finally, a couple of cruises to return us to the US.

Our travels mapped out!

For those interested, the full story of how our vacation mushroomed from 2 weeks to 14 weeks is here.

Tomorrow, the Phaeton goes into storage — along with the toad. And with that, the Phaeton Journeys goes on hiatus. But I hope to continue blogging — or at least posting teasers — on the Two to Travel blog. Sign up to follow us there … or just click the “Our Travel Adventures and Voyages” tab at the top of this blog when the mood strikes. I’ll probably Google+ the posts as well, so there will be no lack of means for those interested in following us around on our travels.

See you when we get back in December!

Out and About in Oregon

A hodgepodge of activities today "heavily" canted toward eating out. Emphasis on heavily.

Shortly after being awakened by Mom this morning, we headed off to the community center for exercise class. I had time to eat a banana before we went. We spent an hour working out to music and I met some of her friends. We'll see if I'm sore tomorrow.

Once home, we changed our clothes and I had time to call Bob to see how he's doing. Bob is busy working. He had another atrial fibrillation episode; his cardiologist put him back on his medication. All is well on the home front.

Mom and I then headed to Wilsonville to have lunch with Kimmie, our adopted family member originally from Vietnam. Kimmie and Mom worked together for many years until Mom retired, but the Nguyens have remained close. We picked Kimmie up from work and went to lunch at Thai Village Kitchen in Wilsonville. Mom and I had Mango Paradise and Kimmie chose Pad Thai. Whenever we visit Oregon we always want to see Kimmie and Ky (if he's available). Our lunch visit was very nice, but too short. After an hour, we took Kimmie back at work.

Mom and Kimmie.

In the afternoon, Michael (my son) came over and we watched "The Illusionist." Or, I should say, Mike and Mom watched "The Illusionist," I used it as an excuse to take a nap. I had seen it before and I couldn't keep my eyes open.

When the movie ended, I took Mike to Red Robin for his birthday dinner. (His birthday was a month ago, but I wasn't here then.) We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed chatting with each other.

Mike deciding what to eat at Red Robin.

Back at Mom's house, the three of us played Rummikub for an hour or more. Today was a fun day...exercise, family, friends and food.

Tomorrow will be more relaxing. We'll sleep in, do a Volksmarch, and go grocery shopping at New Seasons.

Travel Bug out.

Show Me the Money

Yesterday was fun.

I had a good race. I was smooth as ice. No crashes and not too many falls. I even made it through the sand pit a few times.

I didn't place too well but I had fun. There were 3 of us duking it out. Egging each other on and trading places and racing. And that's all I need to have a good race - people to race against and to have fun with.

At the start, Karla said to me make sure you have fun. And so I did.

And then I won a Sycip frame in the raffle.

They told me as I was racing. Everyone told me all along the course. All the kids told me, teammates (old and new) told me, friends and acquaintances told me and of course the announcer announced it a few times. He even pronounced my last name correctly. And that in itself is a feat.

It was confusing at first. So all I could do was smile and nod as I raced around. And then it made sense when I went through the start/finish and I could hear the announcer better.

And then it sunk in even more at the run up, so I took a beer feed in celebration. And I tried to grab some money a few times. And I asked who was smoking the pot? It sure smelled like pot!
Ah yes, that's cross.

And when I finished I went over and met the Sycip guys. Who are super, duper nice. I'd wondered why the Sycip tent was there when we first showed up. Usually at cross races I notice the Sycip racer guys kind of spread out amongst all the tents.

But there the tent was. And there the brothers were - Jay and Jeremy, such nice guys. And such nice sponsors.

I'm excited. They said they'd make me any kind of frame I want and paint it any color. Maybe I should get an orange cross frame to match my new Team Oakland kit next year.

It was a good weekend. A lot to be thankful for. And thankfully, it all overshadowed the news I'd gotten earlier last week - that I'd been laid off, just two days after making the trek overseas and two days before Thanksgiving.

So for a little while, until I find something fun again, I'll have lots of time to ride. And thankfully there's still two months of cross racing to do to keep me occupied.

TSA permits billiard cues aboard. Why not paddles?

The Transportation Security Administrationannounced yesterday that beginning on April 25, several items will be removed from the Prohibited Items List. In addition to small knives (with many size and type restrictions), passengers will be permitted to bring aboard billiard cues, hockey and lacrosse sticks, ski poles, and up to two golf clubs.

Now that you can bring hockey sticks on board airplanes,

shouldn't you be able to bring kayak and canoe paddles?

But not kayak and canoe paddles, which are still prohibited. When we plug "canoe paddle" into the TSA's "When I fly, can I bring my..." online interactive feature, it replies that canoe and kayak paddles are "sports equipment that can be used as a bludgeon (such as bats and clubs)" and they are therefore "prohibited in the cabin of the plane and must be transported in your checked baggage."

Wait. Golf clubs are OK but paddles are not? We called for clarification. In response, we received this email reply from David A. Castelveter, Director of External Communications for the TSA's Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs:

"Sorry Sharon, but for security reasons we are not able to discuss why certain items remain on the prohibited items list."

Let's see. Golf clubs, which have been used to murder people, can be carried on board airplanes even though they are unlikely to be damaged when checked; meanwhile paddles, which are ill-suited to combat and more fragile, can't be carried on board. (We typed "murdered with a golf club" into Google and got 33,800 results. "Hit with a kayak paddle" yielded just five, and none involved aggression, let alone murder.)

Aggressive canoeists aren't the TSA's only concern, of course. Checkpoint efficiency also figures into these decisions. "Imagine how congested the checkpoint would be if under the existing screening procedures we allowed a broader array of items, such as paddles, oars, ski poles, snow board, water skis and the likes," Castelveter noted.

But again, we find this disingenuous. How many canoeists and kayakers travel with paddles? (Not many per day, we would venture.) And does it really take longer to scan a paddle than it takes to scan any other carry-on item?

Clearly, the golf lobby is more effective than the paddlesports lobby.

If this bothers you, send a message to the TSA Contact Center at TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov or call 1.866.289.9673 and tell them why paddles ought to be permitted on board. And please post your letter here in comments, too, for others to see.

The Forest

The Forest, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Here's a small sample of the forest at Redwood Regional Park...obviously redwoods, with a few California bay trees mixed in.
As for the garden...not much is happening right now. Some of the daffodils are starting to bloom, and a few magnolias as well, but that's about it. We are patiently awaiting rain here in California - it is needed if we wish to avoid a severe drought...